Bella Coffey hits grand slam in opener at UNI

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UE drops two games on Friday

 

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Taking to the road for the first time in its 2021 Missouri Valley Conference schedule, the University of Evansville softball team fell to UNI in both games of a doubleheader on Friday at the Robinson-Dresser Complex.

 

Evansville (17-10, 5-3 MVC) dropped the opener by a 22-7 final before the Panthers (14-13, 6-2 MVC) finished the day with a 14-0 win.  Highlighting the day for UE was Bella Coffey, who belted a grand slam in Friday’s opener.  It was the first home run of her UE career.

 

Game 1

A 15-run fourth inning saw UNI turn a 7-6 lead into a 22-6 advantage.  Trailing 1-0 in the top of the second, Marah Wood hit a leadoff single and would later score on a hit by Lindsay Renneisen.  UNI came back with three runs in both the second and third frames, but Evansville came through with a big effort in the fourth.  Haley Woolf led off with a double before before scoring on a Jenna Lis hit.  Jessica Fehr and Renneisen walked to load the bases for Bella Coffey, who hit the first home run of her career – a grand slam.  Her hit got UE back within one run at 7-6.

 

The Panthers did not let the Aces get any closer, scoring an unbelievable 15 runs in the bottom half of the fourth to put the game out of reach.  Sammey Bunch led the way for UNI, going 2-2 with seven RBI and five runs scored.  She hit two homers.

 

Game 2

In the second contest, UNI opened with two runs in the first and did not look back, pulling away for a 14-0 victory.  Emmy Wells and Daryn Lamprecht each posted three RBI in the win.  Evansville had three hits with Jessica Fehr recording two and Jenna Lis adding a double.  The Panthers offense erupted for 15 hits in the contest.

 

Tomorrow, the Aces look to finish the series on a winning note with a single game at 11 a.m.